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Big Brother Blog: Donny Gets Knocked Down

By Mark Drum 

Donny gave the best line of the night in "Big Brother" season 16 episode 27 when he said, "Now it's time to play Big Brother." And he is absolutely correct. The double HOH twist is over and the game is back to what many fans are familiar with. Our Michigander Nicole won her way back to the house in the jury competition and Derrick continues to use his undercover cop skills manipulating all the houseguests. However the only people that Derrick can't fool are Donny and Nicole. If people thought Zach was a villain, people should look to the wolf in sheep's clothing and that wolf is Derrick. I say this because he's playing the game so well, but also being such a great villain to those not in his alliance.

I miss when the houseguests pulled the keys to see which other houseguests were safe from eviction. In pulling each key it drags the ceremony and adds some suspense to who's being nominated. I digress, this episode had some suspense, but when the HOH was crowned this week it seemed to be predetermined who would be nominated leaving no surprise. Here's my recap and breakdown of last night's episode.

Derrick On The Defense

With the announcement of Nicole winning the jury competition to come back into the game, it was pretty clear that the only person in the house that was happy to see her come back was Donny. Meanwhile, the Detonators and Caleb were not happy to see a jury member returning. Christine wasn't happy either to see the person she evicted during her week of HOH coming back into the game, even though Christine consider Nicole to be her "best friend" in the house. Having Nicole back in the house was another ally for Donny to have in the game and that wasn't a good sign for Derrick and his alliance. While Derrick was trying to reassure his alliance members, Nicole and Donny were conversing in the kitchen trying to figure out a game plan. But members of Derrick's alliance would make an appearance in the kitchen trying to figure out what Nicole & Donny were saying. Paranoia slightly sunk in with Derrick knowing if either Nicole or Donny won HOH that someone in his alliance would get evicted, including himself.

Cody Punches To HOH

The Battle for HOH was a knockout, literally. The houseguests were in a boxing themed competition where they had to recall events that have happened the past 50 days of being in the Big Brother house, even though it was actually day 63. Meanwhile the goal for the majority alliance controlling the game was to get Donny and Nicole eliminated from the competition. The first round proved to be a success as Victoria out punched Nicole for the last spot to move to the second round. With Nicole out of the competition, Donny was left to face the other houseguests in becoming HOH. One by one, Donny would guess correctly with each question and eliminate, Victoria, Christine, Caleb and Derrick. It was down to the last questions against Cody. But Cody was too quick to answered correctly knocking out Donny from the game and became the second solo HOH for the season.

Nicole & Donny's Plea

Knowing that the majority was in power, Nicole and Donny felt powerless and knew their fate was sealed. But they weren't going to go without a fight and tried to plead their case to Cody about why they should stay in the house. Knowing this was going to happen, Derrick prepared Cody making sure that neither Nicole nor Donny could plant seeds into Cody's head that could affect his game. Nicole and Donny however made some very convincing statements to Cody that would better his game. Cody agreed that he wasn't playing for "fifth place," and was playing to win. Seeing an opportunity to use Nicole later in the game kept him interested in keeping the target on Donny. But Donny made a great point with Frankie & Christine being possible nominations as well.

What Donny doesn't know, as well as most of the house, is that Cody has a final two deal with Derrick and a two-man alliance called "the hit men." Cody's main ally in this game is Derrick, but little does Cody know that Derrick would rather have Donny stay in the game than have him evicted. Derrick even tried to sway Donny into working with him but Donny wasn't going to get fooled with Derrick's talk. Donny wants to see some action from Derrick assuring he can work with him. Derrick believes he has power in controlling who Cody nominates and he is absolutely correct. The only person that has yet to be nominated for eviction this year is Derrick and Derrick has been able to masterfully keep his name out of being nominated as well as get those he wants out of the house. One could say he's playing a game like Dr. Will or our other Michigander Dan Gheesling. But one this Derrick hasn't had that both Dr Will and Dan had during their respective seasons is a struggle. Derrick's been fortunate to have the numbers always in his favor and his alliance in power. As much as Nicole and Donny wanted to plead their cases to Cody it was no use, as Derrick and the alliance he had built sealed their fate. If you're a fan of Donny, then you could consider Derrick being a villain to the hero of "The Beard," Donny Thompson.

Prediction for POV

With the predictable nominations of Donny & Nicole, there is no hope to see both these two removed from the block. However, there could be a very slight chance of a backdoor, but that would be little bit of a risky move on Cody's part. I do hope and predict that Donny will pull through during the POV competition and save himself from the block. I would be even happy if Nicole were to win. Knowing at least one of them being safe for the week will give hope that one of them could win HOH next week to shake things up. However Cody will be putting up a good fight as well as the rest of the houseguests chosen for POV, to ensure Donny or Nicole from winning.

Tune in on Wednesday at 8 p.m. on CBS Detroit 62 to see who wins the POV and if it will be used to save either Donny or Nicole. I can't wait and look forward to seeing what happens next!

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